


Diamond in the Rough

by SummerInAmsterdam



Series: EtNuary [22]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Colin sucks, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Pickpockets, Protectiveness, Sierra's underratedly vocal, This friendship deserves love, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28156827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerInAmsterdam/pseuds/SummerInAmsterdam
Summary: Lele Pons has always hated rich folks, but there's something about this one that feels... different.Inspired by DaniCarli's 1920s AUEtNuary Day 23: Lele Pons
Relationships: The Heiress | Sierra Furtado & The Hustler | Lele Pons
Series: EtNuary [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589350
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13
Collections: EscapetheNightRealworldAU





	Diamond in the Rough

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ring It In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22133023) by [DaniCarli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniCarli/pseuds/DaniCarli). 



> cw for mentions of violence and unwelcome advances - basically the last part is from Colin being a jerk

Lele hated rich people. It always seemed that the more money you had, the less accountability you had for anything. It was pretty ironic, really, considering her father used to be expected to put his life on the line for them. He worked as a bodyguard for some rich guy for years until when Lele was about eighteen. _“Used to,”_ because he ended up getting fired after a particularly nasty group of guys beat him within an inch of his life.

Yep. The egg _fired him_ after her Dad was beaten up for doing his job.

It was the only work her family really had that paid well enough to make a living. Her parents were able to take small jobs, but it was never enough. So Lele had to take matters into her own hands for the past few years. She turned to… morally questionable options to bring home the bread for her family. In addition to taking odd jobs for one of her friends, a notorious mobster, it turned out she had a knack for gambling. Her luck was always surprisingly good, too. She’d always end up scoring double digits, sometimes _triple_ digits at casinos.

But it wasn’t enough for her to rely on luck. When you make money the way she does, you need to learn a few tricks to get by. She knew enough about setting angles to help her get the perfect shot at the pool table. She learned to read people’s faces when she was playing poker, no matter how blank their expressions were. She learned which people to watch out for if she ever had to turn to stealing from someone. 

Oh, sorry. Did that rub some of you the wrong way? As far as Lele was concerned, if you can afford a few hundred dollars to buy a shirt, then you can afford a few bucks to buy someone dinner.

If you wanted to get by in this world, you had to be smart. You had to know how people think. And you need to know how you can use those same people to your advantage. You couldn’t trust anyone.

At least, that was what she was thinking up until that day at a local farmer’s market in a seedy part of town.

It was a pretty typical day for her. She’d scored pretty well at the casino the night before, so she actually had enough money to pay for the items she needed. Granted, she still haggled the prices a bit, but, eh.

Everything was decently uneventful until she saw something that didn’t belong. A woman around her age was browsing around a few of the produce stands. A pretty thing like her stuck out like a sore thumb in a rundown place like this. Judging from the way she was dressed and the way her dark hair was styled, she was probably some big shot’s daughter or something. Not to mention the broad was wearing a freaking tiara and pearls.

Lele’s jaw clenched and her eyebrows furrowed. If there was anything she hated more than rich eggs, it was their daughters. Bimbos like that always wandered around doing whatever they wanted, hiding behind their daddy’s credit card when they got in a bind.

There was one good thing about those kinds of girls, though: almost all of them turned out to be Dumb Doras. And the less you had up there, the harder it was to realize your stuff was missing before it was too late. Surely that bearcat wouldn’t notice a few bucks missing from the fat wad she probably had in her pocket. And even if she did, it was her own fault for wandering around somewhere like this. Lele would be doing her a favor by stealing from her - teaching her a little lesson about wandering around places you didn’t belong.

Lele was no stranger to the “Bump into the sucker, reach into his pocket and take his shit” routine. She’d had more than enough practice in her day. All she had to do was look distracted, brush against whoever she was headed towards, and lift whatever she needed. It was a bit harder than taking something out of an open bag, but she knew how to lift things from pockets without people noticing.

She stuck her hands in her pockets and gazed at some of the items people were selling as she walked past. She took a quick glance at the woman’s jacket pocket, and saw a shape inside. No doubt a wallet or something. She returned her eyes to the stands, and bumped into the girl. Quick as a whip, she switched her hand from her own pocket to the girls. She had just enough time to process that she was grabbing something hard before lifting a handful out and shoving her hand back into her own pocket.

The other woman blinked and turned to Lele, none the wiser. “Oh, sorry!” she apologized.

 _I was the one who bumped into_ you _, bimbo,_ Lele wanted to say.

She put on a plastic smile and said, “Don’t worry, it’s jake,” and started back off.

 _Wow…_ Lele thought. _That was_ way _too easy._

Lele clutched her hand tightly around the goods in her pocket. They felt round and a little rough, almost like rocks or something. She wondered if she scooped up some gems. She rounded a corner to inspect her pickings, and her eyes boggled. She realized she was holding a handful of diamonds! This girl was actually carrying _diamonds_ on her! In the roughest area of town!  
Lele was over the moon for a split second, but something set in. She glanced back at the girl to find her still looking around, still totally oblivious to the fact that her gems were missing. Now, as mentioned before, Lele normally hated Daddy’s Girls like that. But something about this girl seemed… almost familiar. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she got the sense that she should know who she was. Maybe that was why she decided to help this girl out by making sure no one messed with her _too_ much.

What? She might have been an animal, but she wasn’t a monster. She’d probably feel bad if anyone did anything worse to her and she wasn’t there to do anything about it. She had a decent amount of street credit around here, so maybe they’d leave the girl alone if they saw Lele was with her.

She approached the girl again and said, “Hey, Shiny. You know where you are?”

The girl turned to Lele and gave her a confused look. “Uh… A farmer’s market?”

Lele sighed. “You’re not from around here, right?”

“Not _this_ part of town, no.”

“Okay. Well, you should probably know this place isn’t exactly the nicest neighborhood. The market might look cute, but the people here might not be your favorite.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Look, it… probably isn’t safe for you to be wandering through here without knowing your way around.”

“Uh-”

“Just come with me, alright?”

Sure, she might have just stolen from this girl, but she wasn’t about to let her get mugged or something. She wasn’t about to have that on her conscience if she could do something about it.

And so, today marked the day Lele took the job that her Dad used to have. Great.

The girls walked along the path, occasionally stopping whenever Shiny Joe needed to get something. Lele wasn’t paying particularly close attention to her, but she stuck close enough so she could knock some shady character off if they approached.

“I’m Sierra, by the way,” the girl said.

“Lele.”

Sierra lit up a little. “Oh! So _you’re_ the Lele I’ve heard about.”

“You’ve heard about me?” She thought for a second Sierra had heard of her on the streets.

“A couple of my friends told me some about you.”

“What friends?

“Well, Eva Gutowski, for one. I think I have another friend who’s mentioned you, too.”

Lele wasn’t normally a fan of journalists, but Eva was different. She actually cared about getting the truth about the shit she wrote about. She’d tried to offer Lele a job with her, but Lele couldn’t really see herself with a job like that. Eva did pretty well for herself, though. 

Did this broad really have the same friends as her?

“So who’s this other friend?” Lele wanted to know.

Sierra’s eyes trailed off. “An old co-worker of mine.”

Her voice was steady, but Lele could see her messing with her hands a bit. Lele didn’t really talk to a lot of people other than Eva, but she was pretty close with Tim DeLaGhetto and his friend Andrea Brooks. The two of them ran a speakeasy together that Lele frequented. Thanks to the jobs she’s done for him, she was very well acquainted with them. But Tim was impossible to track down most of the time. Between his gang and the speakeasy, he was almost always on the move.

And that was when Lele realized why she recognized Sierra.

“You’re one of Chia’s regulars, aren’t you?” she said quietly.

Sierra turned to her, eyes widened for a split second. “What are you talking about?”

“Hey, don’t worry - I’m there a lot, too. I think I’ve seen you around a few times. Am I wrong?”

Sierra gave her a look, then side glanced at a case of tomatoes, then looked back at her.

“Don’t tell anyone you saw me there, alright?”

“I’m good at keeping a secret. Don’t worry about it.”

Sierra was about to say something else when a muscular stud muffin rounded a corner. He was a pretty typical all-american beauty with his blonde hair and blue eyes. Used to be a soldier, too. Somehow.

Colin Wentworth.

Before the girls could miss him, he caught sight of them. He dropped his cigarette on the sidewalk, stepped on it to put it out, and sneered at the two of them.

“Lele!” His voice was way too syrupy for Lele’s liking. “Where are you headed in such a hurry?”

She scoffed at him. She and Eva used to be all over him until they realized what a gold-digging gongoozler he was. Surprisingly, Eva was the one to see the warning signs first. When Lele found out he’d been using her to steal money without her knowing, she’d smacked him so hard that the bruise on his face took weeks to fade away.

“Shouldn’t you be off swindling someone else?” she snapped.

“Aw, don’t be like that. You really going to walk off without introducing me to your friend, there?”

Next to Lele, Sierra shifted from foot to foot and scowled. Lele could swear this guy had no idea how to treat women, let alone anyone else.

“I’d suggest you back off,” she warned him. “You don’t want this to end like last time, do you?”

Colin smirked and leaned forward, too close to Lele’s face. She could smell cigarette smoke on his breath.

“Now, now,” he whispered. “No need to get fussy. What do you say we… smooth things over?”

“Oh. yeah? Like over some meal you pay for with _my_ money?”

“I think we both know none of ‘your’ money is really yours, sweetheart.”

He put a hand under Lele’s chin and she tensed up. She wanted to take a step back, but she couldn’t move. She might have been able to hold her own, but Colin was easily twice her size. She got the feeling if she said anything else, it wouldn’t end well for her.

And then Sierra did something she didn’t expect. She pushed Lele aside, got right up in Colin’s face and fixed him with a thousand-yard-glare.

“Back off her!” she barked. “You have no right to treat her like that!”

Colin blinked, seemingly shocked that someone was actually standing up to him. He then laughed it off, and his haughty demeanor returned.

“What’re ya gonna do?” Colin asked with a scoff. “Run home and tell your Da-”

Sierra’s hand shot up and she grabbed his ear. It almost startled Lele with how fast she was. She yanked Colin down to her level, and judging by his reaction, it was painful.

“I said,” Sierra threatened, “ _leave her alone._ ”

Her voice was low and stern. That combined with how hard she was probably gripping Colin’s ear was enough to make him whimper. It even scared Lele a little. She let go of him and he stumbled back a bit, holding his ear. The look on his face was almost enough to make Lele laugh. All he could do was look between them and stutter like a zounderkite before rushing off.

“Yeah! That’s right!” Sierra yelled after him. “Go chase yourself!”

 _That_ was when Lele burst out laughing. It wasn’t often she met someone like that.

She turned to Sierra and said, “Thanks. But you didn’t have to do that, you know.”

Sierra shrugged. “Us girls need to stick together. Now come on, let’s blouse.”

Lele gave her a small smile. As corny as it sounded, it was nice to have Sierra stick up for her like that. They walked a bit further outside the market until they were in a slightly busier and more peaceful area.

“I gotta say,” Lele told Sierra, “I wouldn’t have expected that from you.”

“I guess people don’t really expect it, but I can handle myself.”

“You’re alright, Sierra.”

“You’re not so bad yourself. Maybe I’ll see you again soon?”

“Sounds berries to me.”

Lele’s good mood suddenly went away when she remembered why they met in the first place. She’d never felt bad about taking stuff from rich people before, but Sierra was different. She actually cared about Lele enough to defend her. She didn’t deserve to lose her stuff because of her.

“Uh… before you go…” Lele took Sierra’s wrist and held her hand up, placing the diamonds in her palm. “I don’t usually return shit, but… sorry.”

Sierra gave a knowing smile. “You know those are fake, right?”

“...Fake?”

“I keep stuff like that on me in case I ever end up behind the eight ball. People ended up taking worse before, if I’m being honest. You got lucky.”

Lele looked back down at the “diamonds,” and shook them around in her hand. Now that she was actually paying attention, they _did_ feel a bit lighter than they normally would if they were that size. Other than that, they were pretty impressively realistic. You wouldn’t have found out they weren’t real if you didn’t pay attention.

Huh… maybe she wasn’t as helpless as Lele thought she was.

“Not bad,” Lele credited her.

“You can keep those if you want. Have something on you if you ever end up in trouble.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve got more stuff like that to carry. Like I said, people took worse than fake diamonds before.”

Lele pocketed the “goods.” She was tempted to ask about that “worse” stuff Sierra had had on her before, but she figured she’d save that for the next time they met. And given they frequented the same joint, she had a feeling it would be soon. Maybe they’d get Eva to come out with them at some point, too.

“Thanks for walking through there with me,” Sierra said.

“Anytime. And thanks for helping me tell off Colin back there.”

With that, they parted ways. Lele certainly hadn’t expected to make a friend today, let alone a _rich_ friend, but she couldn’t say she was complaining.

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon me while I add this to the list of my favorite EtN duos
> 
> Dani's 1920s au is so much fun to read, especially with all the slang we get to learn! Highly recommend it :)


End file.
